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Xtar 18700 Preview UPDATED RUNTIMES

Got some Xtar 18700's in the post today .
So lets get right into the crux of these batteries , the extra length . I have personally not found the length to be an issue :

69.3mm / 69.2mm / 69.2mm / 69.3mm / 69.4mm
My Ultrafire 502B has the shortest body , and the 18700 fits just fine , though Im sure some one will be able to find a light that will not accept these batteries due to there length . But then if you owned a flashlight that was battery challenged , ?? .

Now the other thought that must come to mind is ? will your charger take these batteries . I own 3 18650 chargers , the Ultrafire WF-139 , DSD and Trustfire TR-001 .

The longest 18700 only just fits the Trustfire charger , and I mean only just , the DSD charger also can take the 18700 batteries , but bear in mind your flexing the chargers body doing so , and there is just no hope for the WF-139 , the batteries just will not fit , but then we knew the WF-139 was already battery challenged , didn't we ?

I will start testing the batteries shortly , I have 2 on the charger as I type this , and will start some run time tests when the batteries are charged .
Pictured is my Solarforce L2 and the 18700 fits with no problems what so ever , and if anything , there is room to spare , and may very well be the case with most lights taking the 18650 .

Results are in for the 1st test , Current delivery .
For comparison I have included the AW2600 and the Ultrafire 2600 .

As we can see , the Xtar can hold its own in current delivery , so if anyone was worried about internal resistance from the safety features or the quality of the cell itself , next I will start the runtime tests , and these will take a while

I expect more people will start posting results as testing is underway

Run time graph Amps

Run time graph Volts

Now as far as I can tell , the claimed battery capacity is as close to 2200mAh as can be expected , and those testers with Hobby chargers that can cycle the battery and measure discharge will hopefully confirm this . So far I can say that the Xtar 18700 would be a honest battery .

For comparison , some previous 18650 Tests .

I will do another run time test as time permits , hopefully tomorrow some time
.

XR-E R2 Single mode Low Voltage Pill

Ok , the over discharge protection works , the light cut out @ 3v .
As can be seen , the power curve is much flatter in a lower power consumption light , and after resting the battery , its reading 3.19v .

One of the other things Ive noticed is the lack of sag after charging the battery . A lot of batteries after being charged to 4.2v will sag to as low as 4.15v after a few hours of rest , not so with the Xtar 18700 , they come of the charger @ 4.2v and as much as 10 hours latter are still measuring 4.2v

I am currently letting a Xtar18700 , AW18650 , and a Ultrafire 2600 sit for a few days to see how much discharge there will be .

So far Im impressed with the Xtar18700 , it holds its own in the current discharge , the power curve is good , and the over discharge protection works . The only question at this time is Price , with so many cheap cells on the market , it is some what cut throat out there at the moment , and introducing a new product into a market that is geared more towards quality and durability rather than capacity , well I just hope that Xtar can find a niche in the market at a price that will allow them to fill said niche .

I will continue to use these batteries in my flashlights over the Christmas break and if there is anything new to report I will update this review .

I would like to thank Frank from Xtar for making this test possible [ Thank you ]

And I will come back and update as more information / test results etc become available , this close to Christmas , this might be it for a little while .

Marry Christmas everyone .

Matt

Updated

Self Discharge after 6 Days

Both the Xtar and Ultrafire are down to 4.18v after 6 Days , and for the AW fans the AW2600 is still sitting on 4.21v .
I might leave these 3 cells alone and see how they go in another week or so .

Re: Xtar 18700 Preview

Originally Posted by C-Beam

A few mm longer but only 2200mah?

Well , these are not intended to be High Capacity Batteries , Xtar is offering them as a heavy duty [ I hate to use the word - TACTICAL ] safe battery that can withstand hard use , I do believe safe for high impact [ Weapons light I would assume ] situations .

So I guess a Law enforcement/military situation where by a Light might be attached to a 338Lapua or similar , might be the sort of thing Xtar is considering as a suitable market for this battery , or any other use that may damage or kill regular 18650's from hard physical use .

Re: Xtar 18700 Preview

Originally Posted by old4570

Well , these are not intended to be High Capacity Batteries , Xtar is offering them as a heavy duty [ I hate to use the word - TACTICAL ] safe battery that can withstand hard use , I do believe safe for high impact [ Weapons light I would assume ] situations .

So I guess a Law enforcement/military situation where by a Light might be attached to a 338Lapua or similar , might be the sort of thing Xtar is considering as a suitable market for this battery , or any other use that may damage or kill regular 18650's from hard physical use .

Any chance you have pics (or can get pics) of the sheathing off the battery, so curious folks can see how they make it durable (might get some people to decide to buy those now).

Any chance the extra 5mm is because of the anti-impact material?

Also, any chance you'd be able to devise a device (say that 10 times fast!) to simulate high impact scenario's, so you can tell if it holds up like they say?

Re: Xtar 18700 Preview UPDATED RUNTIMES

Anyone had a problem with these cells running hot? WHen powering a cheap T7 Citipower light, they get too hot to handle after 20 minutes on high. They do make the light VERY bright however. WHen using a Ultrafire 3000mah, not so bright but then again, no heat to speak off.